What I Brought Home (Besides a Full Heart)

When I told you about our recent trip south to visit our daughter Kati and her family, I told you that we returned home with full hearts, and indeed we did. But we also brought home a few physical treasures. 

I had been keeping my eye out for coral as I shopped in antique stores. This piece called my name and I had some birthday money tucked aside for a special piece. I think I surprised Ron with my choice; he didn't think it looked like my usual style, but he trusted my opinion. I plan to use it as part of my summer mantel. For now, it is atop the cabinet in my sunroom. 

We also brought home a small trove of pottery made by our son-in-law Andrew. Making pottery is one of his hobbies and he is quite good at it! They brought out a couple of boxes of pieces that they were not using and let us take whatever we wished to have. 

I bought a small potted (faux) geranium.

I picked up some beverage napkins, of course. (If you're a longtime reader, you know that I always have a stash of napkins.) I love the pomegranate ones and have tucked them away for next winter when I need a pop of color. The botanical berries will probably show up on my Bible study table soon. Life's simple pleasures. :)

(I also purchased some wool acorns and a few fall stems, but those have already been put away.)

And last, but not least, we brought home a lovely Windsor chair that Andrew had purchased shortly before he and Kati got married. When they moved to their new house three years ago, they did not have a good place for the chair so they asked us if we'd like to have it. They have been keeping it in their barn since then, but we were able to bring it home with us on this trip! 

We have a great place for it, along with something else that we purchased on Marketplace since we have been back home. 

I'll tell you about that in my next post! 

Pineapple House | Christmas Tour 2025

I was especially excited about decorating for Christmas this year.

Why this year?, you may ask.  

Because Ron painted the living room, dining room, and hallway this past autumn, and I thought that our new paint color (Copley Gray by Benjamin Moore) would be the perfect background for Christmas decorations. I was not disappointed! The greenery and fruits and pops of red seemed to love the grayish green woodwork. 

So, although I missed last year's Christmas home tour for the first time since I started blogging in 2009, I am resuming the tour this year and you're all invited! 

We'll begin in the living room. Much is the same as in other years - the della Robbia-style mantel arrangement, the olive wood nativity figure that Ryan brought from a trip to Israel, the tabletop tree with dried oranges (real) and cranberries (faux). 

My gift wrap plan was simple this year. I wrapped all of my women and girls' gifts in this pretty Laura Ashley print that I found at Marshall's and I wrapped all of the men and boys' gifts in plaid. 

Next, we'll walk out to the sunroom where we'll sit and watch the snow fall. Honestly, we can't do that often because we don't get a lot of snow here in the Mid-Atlantic, but on a recent morning, I enjoyed the snowfall while I sipped my morning coffee and it was a treat.  

Ron hung the Moravian star in the sunroom and we can see it as we drive up the street to our house. 

I filled a pewter bowl with some lovely potpourri Mom gave me last Christmas.

Here are a few glimpses of the Pineapple House dining room.

I have told you before about the sideboard that Ron built from plans by Adam Peck, found in Country Living magazine. We have had it for about 42 years now and I love it most when it is decorated for Christmas. 

We have had this corner cupboard almost as long. It, too, was made by Ron from plans ordered from Country Living. Its simple design is timeless. 

We'll finish our tour in the kitchen where the theme of fruit and greenery continues.

And coffee, of course. :)

I have been collecting stone fruit for several years. (I doubled my collection a few years ago when I bought six pieces in a thrift shop for 5o-cents each!) Last year, someone I follow on Instagram suggested that adding a black piece to your collection made everything else look better. So when I saw this cluster of stone grapes in a favorite antique store this past spring, I reached into my birthday money and made the purchase! They were not 50 cents. But it was good advice and I am glad that I bought them.

And now we have arrived at the back door. Thank you so much for joining me in my Christmas home! 



I will leave you with a little gift. This is the iPhone wallpaper with the verse that our ladies' Sunday School class has been memorizing. Feel free to save the photo and add it to your phone.  

What an amazing truth: 

that the WORD became flesh and dwelt among us! 

God Himself became a man and came to save us from our sin,

to pay the penalty for it that we could never pay. 

That, my friends, is why we celebrate!
May your celebrations be merry as you rejoice in His coming!

Gathering the Moments | February 2025

🎔 In February, we gave our bedroom a little love.

First, we hung a clock that Kati had found when she went antiquing on her birthday in November. She had texted me a photo, saying that she thought of me when she saw it. She did the same with a sweet pumpkin pillow. I asked her to buy both items for me and I dubbed her my personal shopper! She mailed the pillow so I'd have it in autumn, but the clock she brought at Christmas. I hemmed and hawed about where to hang it and finally settled on this spot in our bedroom. 

Then we (re)hung this picture in our bedroom with its new grain painted frame. (You can read more ~ here ~.)

🎔 Ron continued working on our first big house project of the year: the conversion of our pink half bathroom into a main floor laundry closet. 

🎔 Are you surprised that my friend Barbara and I went to a coffee shop and then antiquing?  (You're probably not.) 

🎔 February brought more snow . . . and more. 

🎔 This seems like a very "February" thing to do! 

🎔 Soup was on the menu in February. 

🎔 I don't think I told you that I did a little chair switch-a-roo.

I put the recently upholstered mustard-colored chair in the living room (yes, even though I chose that fabric specifically to coordinate with the love seat fabric!), and I brought the red-checked chair back to its former place in the library. I love the red checks against the green trim, and now I love the rug too (the rug that I had doubts about with the mustard chair). 

You can see the mustard chair in the library in ~ this post ~.  Don't you think the red-checked chair looks better against the green? 

By the way, I made the switch months ago, but it was February when I took this photo with winter morning light shining into the room. 

On the other side of the library is a real life look at Bekah's study corner. She is working hard this spring semester of her junior year. 

🎔 Also in February . . . 

At Mom's house, she and Linda and I are sorting through old (and a few new) family photos. This one captured my attention recently: Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Daddy's house, circa 1984. But there is a mystery that no one has been able to solve. Who took the photo?! We don't remember! 

🎔 There were a few Valentine splurges in February: 

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Crème Frappuccinos. Yum! 

I cobbled together a new recipe for a Valentine luncheon at church. 

A new heart was a small non-caloric splurge. 

🎔 Late afternoon light on a February day. 

Do you see misty light and shadows? 

I feel this as representative of life. Oh, there is light . . . the light that is from The LIGHT OF THE WORLD! I know that light! But sometimes - in the dark, in the shadows - that light appears misty. Yes, life is full of shadows and misty light. There is much that looks shadowy and misty and unclear and mysterious. And yet, the Light is always there! 

And so, when I am troubled, I need not try to understand the darkness. I need only look to The Light and understand Who He is. One day, all that is mysterious will be clear. All that is shadowy will be illuminated. All the darkness will disappear in His glorious light!